


The Power of Words

by Oiaso



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lian Yu, One Shot, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-01-12 23:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1204381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oiaso/pseuds/Oiaso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unrelated one-shots based on different famous quotes and proverbs. The first is about friendship and trust... Do you want to know more? Go on and read! Updated Chapter 3: Happy Story (with pre-Mirakuru Slade)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thank You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!  
> Even though I obviously still don’t own Arrow, I can’t help continuing to write about it.  
> As you read in the summary, I’m writing some unrelated one-shots based on different famous quotes and proverbs. This first is about friendship and trust.  
> I started publishing these one-shots in Spanish, but some people have asked me if I could also post them in English, so here I am.  
> And if you have read something of mine in English before, you will know that sharing this with all of you would be impossible for me without the help of my incredible beta, **luvtheheaven**.  
>  I hope you like this, even if it is only a little bit.  
> And don’t forget, when you’re bored, take some paper and your favorite pen and enjoy writing!

**Title:** Thank You

 **Characters:** Oliver Q., John D. and Felicity S.

 **Rated:** T (See the end of the work for more notes)

 **Spoilers:** 2x09 - Three Ghosts

**“If you don’t trust your associates to know what’s going on, they’ll feel that you don’t really consider them as your partners” ~ Sam Walton**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Thank You**

Felicity took the mask from Oliver’s hands and smiling slightly, she put it on him gently. Barry had done a great job; the mask was perfect.

“How do I look?” Oliver asked with a little hesitation in his voice.

“Like a hero,” she replied firmly.

He put on the hood while Felicity’s words echoed in his mind. He could see that she really believed in what she’d just said - the confidence and pride in her words were clear. ‘A hero’… It was the second time that night someone had called him that.

Tommy’s words had deeply touched Oliver: ‘I _know_ I called you a _murderer_ , but you are _not._ You are a _hero._ ’ He smiled slightly at the memory, and suddenly he felt a jolt in his stomach, his knees weakened, and he had to grab the table to keep from falling.

Slade was in front of him again, looking at him with hate. Although he was silent, Oliver knew what Slade had come to tell him. There had barely been a few hours since his previous hallucination, and his words echoed in his ears painfully: ‘You are not a hero. Or a friend. Or a brother. You are _nothing_ ’.

He blinked several times until Slade disappeared and he could see Felicity in front of him.

“Oliver… Oliver, can you hear me?”

She wanted to caress his cheek, but as soon as she touched him, he jumped as if it had burned him.

“Hey, Oliver. What’s up, man?” Diggle asked, starting to worry.

Oliver took a couple of steps back. His face was a mixture of confusion, fear and guilt. Wordlessly, he turned and ran, throwing the mask without worrying about where it fell.

“Oliver! Oliver, come back here!” they shouted, but he just ignored them.

“What was that?” Felicity asked as she picked up the mask and absentmindedly twirled it between her fingers.

“I think not all of his ghosts are gone.”

“All? What do you mean by ‘all’? I thought he’d only seen... Shado.” She couldn’t hide the pain she felt knowing he’d been with her on the island.

“He’s told me before that he has also seen Slade Wilson. They were together in Lian Yu. I don’t know what happened, but Oliver blames himself for their deaths.”

“And who do you think he’s seen this time?”

“It could have been either of them, or someone else... Who knows?”

“And as usual, he won’t tell us until he’s forced to. I know he doesn’t find it easy to talk about what happened on the island, but then he was the first one who wanted Sara to tell him what had happened to her and... I’m aware that as I haven’t been through anything like that I can’t understand exactly how he feels, but someday he has to talk about it. He needs to let off steam... Or all that he has inside will end up consuming him.”

“Felicity, give him time... Someday he’ll be ready. When you come home after being in a place where you’ve been forced to fight... to kill... It isn’t easy to talk about it. You fear being judged, or rejected. I had my brother, and Lyla; but they had lived those experiences with me, so we supported each other. But when Oliver came back, he had no one.”

“He had his family! He had his mother and Thea, and he had you!”

“The truth is that Oliver and I didn’t have a good start. And as for his family… Yeah, they were there, but they expected the old Oliver, and he is not that man anymore. Besides, he had a mission to perform, and he believed that the less his family knew, the safer it would be for them. So he decided not to tell them anything. He told nothing to his family, or to Tommy. Or to _anyone_ else. He had to face his homecoming alone. He got used to carrying all the weight on his own shoulders, to keeping secrets, to pretending to be someone else. And when you’ve been doing that a while, when you’ve done everything possible to leave your past behind, to keep it in a place where no one can get... You’re so closed off that it’s hard to let someone in, to let them know what you’ve done, what you have suffered, how much it still hurts.”

“And I understand that, but I can’t avoid wanting to help him… And the truth is that sometimes I wonder what we are for him,” she said sadly. “I mean, I know we’re his friends, John, he lets us see his true self, and he really trusts us—”

“But?” he interrupts.

“I don’t know if it’s because he was forced to do so, or because he really considered us his friends.”

“Forced?” he asked, confused.

“Yes... Well, you had been _poisoned_ , so what else could he do? And when he told me who he was, his mother had _shot_ _him_ and he was bleeding out... He didn’t have many options... So yeah... Sometimes I wonder what we are for him.”

* * *

Oliver hadn’t gone far. As soon as he went out and the cold night air slipped into his lungs he felt better. He’d leaned against the wall, slipping down until he was sitting in the ground with the hood down and his eyes tightly closed.

He had left— No, he had _run away_ from the lair because he needed air, he told himself. But the fact was that he needed to be alone.

He didn’t understand what was happening. He felt extremely lost and didn’t know what to do. It had been a few minutes since he had told Diggle his ghosts were gone. But then why had he seen Slade again?

Tommy had told Oliver that he wasn’t responsible for his death, that he was a hero… And for a moment, he’d believed Tommy’s words.  However, Shado had asked him to stop fighting and live… She’d said that he wouldn’t be able to stop what was coming. He wondered if it had anything to do with Slade.

“But that’s impossible... He’s dead,” Oliver said aloud.

“Are you sure, kid?” someone half-hidden in the shadows answered.

Oliver didn’t need to see his face to know who he was. He recognized the Aussie’s voice and clothes instantly.

“I saw you die. Twice.”

“The first time you did kill me, at least for awhile. The sec—”

“It was the only way to try to save you!” he yelled, trying to explain his actions.

“The second time,” Slade continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “you just _thought_ you had killed me.”

“You didn’t leave me any other choice,” Oliver muttered in frustration.

“Are you sure? Then, why do you feel so guilty, kid?”

“You were going to kill her! I couldn’t let you do it, Slade! I couldn’t let you kill Sara! Slade? Slade!”

Oliver looked from one side to another, but Slade was gone. He let out a long sigh and stood up. Certainly Diggle and Felicity would be wondering why he had run away like that. They deserved an explanation. And maybe it was time to tell them some things about the island.

He entered the key on the number pad and walked in, per usual without making any sound. So much so that neither Diggle nor Felicity noticed his arrival, so he could hear what she was saying:

“…He didn’t have many options... So yeah... Sometimes I wonder what we are for him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Oliver said with unusual sincerity.

“Oliver! Where were you? Why did you run? Was it because of what I said? If it upset you, that wasn’t my intention in any way, but you really looked like a hero to me, and I know you don’t see yourself that way, but...”

“Felicity.” He cut off her babbling.

“Yeah, I’ll just shut up now,” she said as she sat in her chair with the mask still in her hands.

Oliver smiled at her reassuringly. Just a few moments ago, she had been wondering if he really considered them as friends and now she was worried, thinking her words were the reason for his escape.

“Before, when you told me I looked like a hero... I’d seen an old–friend,” -a chill ran down his back- “and he reminded me a few things from the island… You asked me once if I have any happy stories… This isn’t one, but I think it’s time to share some things with you two,” he said as he sat on a chair, with his elbows on his knees. “The island taught me many things, and certainly not all were good.”

Diggle and Felicity exchanged looks of surprise, but they said nothing. They knew that Oliver found it difficult to talk about the island, so when he did it, they tried to interrupt as little as possible.  Dig leaned on the table with his arms crossed, waiting for Oliver to continue.

“The island taught me that friendship is something that can be used against you. The first time I was tortured they wanted to find out where Yao Fei was. He was the first person I met on the island, and Shado’s father. She was also retained by Fyers, so Yao Fei had to play a double game to save both of us. He managed to send me to the plane’s fuselage you saw. Then, there was Slade Wilson. He trained me and taught me to fight, and one day we got Shado free. She also trained me and taught me a few moves, but mostly she taught me how to use the bow. We were a good team. Slade was the warrior, I was the apprentice and Shado… She was the voice of sanity, the calm; she was the one who held us together... Although living on the island wasn’t easy, we enjoyed some good moments when, for a few minutes, we forgot that they wanted to kill us.”

Felicity looked at him with a half smile. It was the first time she’d heard him saying something nice about the island, even if it was only a tiny thing.

“One day, Yao Fei appeared on the plane, but he wasn't alone. Fyers and his men came with him. Although the first thing I thought was that he had betrayed us, I soon realized how wrong I was. Fyers was going to bomb the forest to kill us, and that was the only way Yao Fei had found that would give us a chance to survive. Fyers demanded Yao Fei to plead guilty for the attacks they'd planned, and when he refused Fyers threatened to kill us. That day they didn’t use only friendship against us. They also used a father’s love. In the end he had no choice but to accept. He risked his life to save us and he died. They killed him as soon as he finished his statement. Shado, Slade and I managed to destroy the camp and kill Fyers and his men, but the price was too high.”

Oliver didn't say anything more for a few minutes, but his friends knew that he hadn't finished yet and that he only needed some time to clear his thoughts before continuing. So they waited patiently.

“One day, we were attacked and I was captured. When I awoke I was on a ship, locked in a cell by order of a Doctor Ivo and some men who worked for him. That’s where I saw Sara for the first time after the shipwreck; she was something like his protégée… I don’t know how, but they discovered who I really was and that Sara and I already knew each other. I guess not many ships wrecked in that area… The fact is that they knew I hadn’t been alone on the island, and took advantage of Sara to deceive me and find out where my friends were hiding. The next day we returned to the island. They wanted to kill my friends before looking for the Mirakuru. Slade and Shado rescued me, also Sara. Eventually, we managed to get to the submarine where the serum was, unaware that Ivo and his men were following us. Slade was badly injured, and if we didn’t do anything... He was getting worse by the minute. We found the serum in a closet, but there wasn’t any kind of sedative. We had no other choice. I injected Slade with the serum, but it didn’t help... He died anyway... Or at least we thought so.”

“What do you mean by that?” Felicity asked, unable to contain herself.

“I’ll explain soon. The fact is that Ivo and his men arrived and they took us out of there by force. And suddenly, I don’t know how... I was forced to choose,” he said, unable to hide how painful it was being to talk about those memories. “Sara and Shado were kneeling in front of me, Ivo pointing a gun at them… He told me that I had to decide which one of them should live or he would kill them both. I… I couldn’t… I just couldn’t make that choice…”

Felicity cried silently, wondering how he’d been able to overcome so much suffering. Diggle squeezed Oliver’s shoulder, letting him know they were there, supporting him, saying in silence that he could take a break if he needed.

“I couldn’t choose, so I did the only thing I could. I begged for their lives, I asked to kill me instead of them. But Ivo ignored my plea, repeating that if I didn’t choose, both would die. When he finished speaking he pointed his gun at Sara, and without thinking I placed myself in the middle, ready to receive her bullet. But Ivo thought I’d chosen her, and before I knew what had happened, Shado was dead... She died thinking I chose Sara.”

At that point, Oliver couldn’t help but release a couple of bitter tears. He would never be able to shake off the blame for her death.

“And suddenly we heard screams and fighting sounds... It was Slade.”

“So he wasn’t dead?” Diggle asked, trying to understand.

“We’d thought he was, but it seems that the serum has that effect… When Slade came back to life, he found where we had been taken and he was able to kill all of Ivo’s men. Ivo was the only one who managed to escape from Slade's fury. And when he saw Shado’s body... He loved her so much... although she’d never returned his love in any romantic way. He swore that he would make sure that her murderer would pay. Sara told him that it had been Ivo, but he soon discovered what had happened. My nightmares betrayed me. I woke up screaming about Shado's death and Slade realized how I'd played a part in it. He’d sworn revenge, and Slade was a man of his word.”

“He... He tried to kill you?” Felicity asked, horrified.

“I wish he would have. He tried to kill Sara.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!”

“It does for him. He wanted me to go through the same thing he’d suffered, and that was the best way.”

“So did you think he really killed her? I mean, I know that Sara didn’t die on the island, but since you really thought she was dead...”

“I don’t know what I thought.”

“How can you not know, Oliver?” Diggle asked. He didn’t like to interrupt him, but sometimes it was necessary.

“I had tried to reason with him, explain what had happened, but he didn’t hear me. In the end we had no other choice but to confront him. I still doubt if it was a good idea… Both Sara and I ended up quite badly injured. She was lying on the ground, covered in blood… dead, or at least I thought so at the time. I was barely standing, and Slade seemed invincible. I had never before faced anyone who had been injected with Mirakuru. My punches didn’t seem to affect him, so I took the bow and I shot him over and over again. The arrows didn’t stop him, but he slowed a little, until an arrow hit him in the eye. Whatever happened then... I don’t remember well. I was very tired and dizzy… Everything was spinning… I heard him screaming and suddenly he wasn’t there. I don’t know how, but he ended up falling off a cliff. It was him or me… But still... I killed him... I killed my friend... My _friend!_ ” He sighed. “His cry is the last thing I remember. Then I passed out.”

Felicity was no longer trying to hide her tears. Oliver’s story was too painful.

“Yao Fei, Shado and Sara died because of me. I killed Slade. I was alone on the island, and the only thing left for me was the guilt. That was all I could think about when I woke up. I didn’t dare to look at Sara’s body. I got up as soon as I could and walked toward the cliff over which Slade had fallen. I had nothing to lose. I was sure that my family thought I was dead and that I could never leave the island by myself. I didn’t think I could live with the guilt, so I went to the edge and I let myself fall. The knock against the water was...” he trailed off. “I just remember the pain... Somehow the tide had dragged me to a beach. When I woke up again, I realized it was the exact place I’d arrived at the island after the shipwreck, almost two years prior. I don’t know how or why I lived after the fall, or how I only had a few broken bones. I survived once again, and I thought there must be some reason for it. So I told myself I had to be strong, fight and find a way out of there, to someday fulfill the promise I’d made to my father. I managed get to the cave where I’d lived with Yao Fei, and I spent most of the time there until I’d recovered enough to go back for Sara’s body. I didn’t find it. So I thought a storm may have washed it away... Now, I suppose that at some point she woke up and since she didn’t see me, she thought _I_ was dead. I don’t know.”

“And what about Slade’s body? Did you find it?”

“No, but having fallen into the sea with an arrow through his eye, it was almost impossible for him to have survived. If he did, I never saw him return to the island... And the same thing happened with Sara. I never saw her again… I don’t know how she managed to leave the island, but from that day until I was rescued by some fishermen I felt sure I was the only person on Lian Yu.”

All three were silent for a while. Diggle and Felicity were assimilating everything they had just heard, and Oliver was trying to find the right words so that they could understand what he had wanted to tell them.

“So yeah... I made friends there... Really good friends... But that only brought me a lot of suffering... That’s why it’s so hard for me, Felicity. All the people who get too close to me are in danger... They just get hurt... or dead. That list is already too long... I don’t want... I _can’t_ add more names to it. You two are very important to me, and not just for what we do here. Of course I consider you my friends, my _only real_ friends, and I…” He opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing how to continue. “I’m not good at this,” he added in frustration.

Oliver wanted to explain that he was afraid to show how much he needed them, how much he cared about them... And that at the same time he was terrified that someone would find out. Friendship is a powerful weapon… He knew it firsthand, it had been used more than once against him, and he didn’t want to go through the same again. He wanted to explain all that, so they could understand his behavior, but he couldn’t find the right words. And yet, somehow, they knew what he was thinking. He could see it in Diggle’s gaze... And he could feel it in the way Felicity hugged him.

“Thank you.”

It was the only and most perfect thing Oliver could say. That single phrase contained so much meaning in itself, which both Diggle and Felicity understood without needing anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you for reading! And please don’t forget to leave me reviews so I’ll know what you think. Thank you very much!!!  
> I have some ideas for the next chapters, but if there is any famous quote or proverb about you would like to read, just let me know. Suggestions are welcome! ;-)  
> Until the next "chapter”, have a great time!


	2. Silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a little longer than I would have liked to finish translating this, and I’m sorry. This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but still I hope you'll enjoy it.  
> I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to happen, or so I thought, but while I was writing it, it took on a life of its own! However, the main idea hasn't changed (Felicity writing in her diary).  
> It is written mixing the past and present tenses, but I hope it isn't too confusing. But just in case, I will tell you that what is written in present tense is what Felicity is writing in her diary.  
> This was originally written before 2x13 (Heir to the Demon), and hence before Felicity talked about her mother. It’s just a comment so you won't find the mention about her childhood odd.  
> As always, I have to mention my beta **luvtheheaven** , because she's done awesome work.  
> I hope you like it, even if it is only a little bit.  
> And don’t forget, when you’re bored, take some paper and your favorite pen and enjoy writing!

**Title:** Silence

 **Characters:** Felicity

 **Rated:** K+

 **Spoilers:** Not really. Some little stuff could be mentioned, but nothing important.

**“No one will listen and understand you as well as a pen and paper” ~ Unknown**

* * *

 

**Chapter 2. Silence**

Felicity wrapped herself in her coat when she left the Verdant basement and a wave of cool night air hit her. It had been raining most of the day, but luckily for her, it had already stopped. She went to her car, dodging the biggest puddles, flopped into the driver's seat and sighed. It'd been a long day in which she’d had to fight constantly to keep her emotions well-hidden behind her smile. It had been really exhausting.

So when Felicity got home, she dropped her purse and coat on the couch and she went straight to the shower. The hot water on her skin made her feel better instantly, as if some of her concerns had gone down the drain. She remained in the shower until she felt her fingertips begin to wrinkle. She turned off the water, wrung out her hair, took a couple of deep breaths, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and put on her glasses. She walked barefoot to the kitchen then grabbed a spoon and her favorite ice cream and set them on the nightstand beside the bed. She put on pajamas, and with her hair still wet got into bed, sitting with her back against the headboard. She took the ice cream container and ate a few spoonfuls, savoring it slowly, enjoying its taste.

“Nothing like some ice cream on a bad day,” she told herself aloud.

When she was satisfied, she set the container back on the nightstand and took out a small notebook and pen from the drawer. It was the diary her mother gave her when she was seven years old and that she had never used for fear that someone would read it. She laughed as she realized how ironic it was that as a child, she’d refused to use it, worried about what her mother would say if she ever had found and read it, but now, fifteen years later, she had begun to write in it, knowing that if it ever fell into wrong hands, Oliver, John and she would be in _serious_ trouble.

She reread the first pages, those which she had written over a year ago, stopping at some of the phrases that for one or another reason brought significant memories to her:

‘There is no doubt. Oliver Queen is the Hood. And I have now agreed to help him!? I must be going crazy.’

‘How can he expect me to work if he walks around shirtless all the time? Does he not realize that I can't stop staring at him?!’ Felicity chuckled when she read that. She still had some trouble staying focused when he was sparring with Diggle, or when he approached her shirtless, but now she managed to hide it pretty well, and sometimes she even thought Oliver did it intentionally.

She continued reading until she reached her first mission with Oliver and John: ‘I had a bomb on my neck! A BOMB! I haven't been so scared in my entire life... I won't go with them again, even if they beg me!’

“Nope, now I'm the one who _asks_ Oliver to let me go with him,” she thought aloud, realizing how much her thinking had changed.

‘When he looked into my eyes, asking if I was okay... I swear it was fear that I could see in his eyes, but… could it have really been fear? Does he really care about me that much?

Felicity continued leafing through the diary, remembering more little moments.

“If you ever need to tell someone about your day… You can tell me.” She couldn't help heave a long sigh when she read it.

Felicity would never forget the night that Oliver told her that... She perfectly remembered the way he’d looked at her, the feel of his hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his voice... He’d really wanted to let her know that he was there if she needed, although she already knew that. But Felicity just couldn't do that. Not to _him_.

She knew that if she talked to him about her problems, fears, or frustrations, he would be able to find a way to blame himself, and he had enough burdens on his shoulders - she couldn’t add any more.

Besides, how she could talk to Oliver about her concerns, if all of them, in one way or another, were related to him? When it wasn't Isabel's malicious and venom-filled comment, it was the fear of him getting hurt on a mission, or the frustration and guilt when she felt that she was who had failed. She _couldn't_ talk about all that with him, so Felicity kept silent over and over again.

Tonight wasn't an exception. That's why she had gone to her diary. It was her way to let off steam without having to involve anyone else. She had been doing it for over a year and so far it had worked quite well.

She wrote the date in one corner and a sad face beside it. She liked to do so because that way, she could know if it had been a good or bad day just by looking at the drawing. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts before starting to write:

‘There are good days, bad days and worse days... Today has been one of those last type. There have been so many awful things at once… Moments where I thought I wasn't going to be able to handle it anymore, I felt I was going to break at any time… There've been so many things that I don't even know where to start.’

 _“From the beginning sweetheart, always from the beginning,”_ she remembered that her mother used to say when after a bad day at school Felicity wanted to let off steam and she babbled.

“From the beginning, of course...”

‘It is clear that today I'd gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, because nothing would go my way…

The alarm clock ran out of batteries, the heater broke down when I was showering and I burned the pancakes... And all this before leaving home!

And then, when I arrived at the office, the floor was wet, and I was in a hurry because I was late, and so of course I slipped and I hit the floor so hard that it still hurts. I'm sure I will have a huge bruise tomorrow... But worst of all is that when I'd gotten up and looked to see if anyone had seen me... Why did it have to be _her_? I'm sure Isabel will take advantage of this. That shrew...

At least the rest of the day at work was pretty peaceful… Ignoring the fact that Isabel "slipped" and spilled coffee on my desk, destroying half of the papers on it... I don't even understand how Oliver can put up with her. I _really_ don't know how he was able to sleep with her...’

“Felicity, don't go there... Not again,” she chided herself as she crossed out the last sentence.

She ate a couple more spoonfuls of ice cream and continued writing:

‘Later in the lair, it seemed that I was going to finally get something good, because Oliver's been training on the salmon ladder, and well, I love when he does that... But it didn’t last long, because the computer had started beeping. In a moment, Oliver and John were beside me, asking what was wrong.

It was the alarm of a chemical laboratory, and when I checked (because “hacked” sounds really bad, doesn't it?) some camerassurrounding the area, we could see that a van had driven right into the place, so they headed over there in a hurry.

It hadn't seemed like it’d be a complicated mission, but I couldn't help but ask them to be careful... I had a bad feeling, as if something was going to go wrong. Oliver told me not to worry, that they wouldn't take long. And I... I tried to believe him. But as soon as they'd closed the door, I felt a knot in my stomach.

I started to work immediately, searching for information about what products were in the lab, the building plans... I'd even gotten images from security cameras to find out how many people were inside. Just two. One next to the front door and another in the east corridor. At least that's what I thought and what I'd said to Oliver.

When Oliver told us that he'd already knocked out both of them I felt much calmer. It seemed that my fear had been unfounded. But no. Suddenly I couldn't find Oliver! He’d ended up in some sector that I couldn't access. I wanted to let him know what was happening but it was too late. I heard arrows, screams, blows, gunshots and grunts of pain. Suddenly, an explosion... and then nothing. NOTHING!

I'd seen that John had entered the room where Oliver was, running, while I was trying to figure out what had happened, but I couldn't, and I felt SO helpless... And I didn't know if Oliver was injured or worse. Other times John is with me and he helps me calm down, but today I was alone. And I was scared to death.

I haven’t been so scared during a mission for a long time. I was terrified. So when I'd finally heard John saying ‘I have him Felicity. He's only slightly bruised,’ I could breathe again although I was still scared. I needed to see him with my own eyes. When they finally appeared in the security camera images... I had to force myself not to cry. Oliver was leaning on John, but he looked OK.

Nevertheless, until they had returned to the lair, I hadn't been truly calm. John was right. Oliver just was a little pale and bit dazed by the explosion, but nothing more. He explained to us that a bullet had hit one of the tanks and that's what had exploded.

We managed to convince him that it was best to go home to rest, and that tonight he couldn't do anything else. He barely argued, and that's what worries me most, because I'm sure that means he felt dizzier than he'd told us.

When I had first joined them, I realized that Oliver had been convinced that he could deal with everything on his own, that he didn't need anyone, and that he had to be the _strong one_. He really believed that he _couldn't_ depend on anyone. But not only that. I soon realized that Oliver was a complicated man who was trying to hide his past, was pretending in his present and didn't think about his future. Because Oliver lived day to day, minute by minute. Consequences of his years on the island, I guess...

But I think that John and I are slowly changing that. He's able to be himself with us, he allows us to see when he's sad, worried, or even hurt (and not always physically). Maybe he doesn't tell us directly, but he lets us see through him. He doesn’t put on a mask when he's with us nor does he tell absurd lies to hide his real feelings. Not anymore.

With us, he isn't _Ollie_ , the pre-island-stupid-rich-boy, nor is _Mr. Queen_ , Queen Consolidated CEO... He's just _Oliver_. The man who's burdened with cares, a tragic past, and demons that scare him more than he can express in words. The man who wants to save the city, who cares about his family and friends, who wants to be a better person. The man who sometimes gets on my nerves, who doesn't laugh when I babble, who makes me shiver with just a glance...

He's the man I love even though I don't want to, because I know he's not for me, and I know he'll never see me that way.

So even though he said I could tell him... I can't do it. How am I going to talk to him about all this? I can't tell him that Isabel is trying to make my life miserable, or the rumors that everyone in Queen Consolidated are spreading behind my back about how I came to be his assistant... I can't tell him about how scared I am whenever he wears his Arrow suit, or that I can't stand the idea that something could happen to him. I can't talk to him about how frustrating it is that no one can know that we are really good friends, and why I spend so many hours with him if I'm just his _Executive Assistant_.’

“Of course I can't tell him about any of that... So I don't know what I would do without you,” she muttered, staring at the diary. “I think at this point I probably would have gone crazy.”

Felicity looked at her watch and sighed. It was getting late and the next day was going to be a busy workday. She put the diary in the drawer and took off her glasses. She knew the next morning she was going to regret not having put the ice cream back in the freezer, but at that moment she didn't want to leave the bed. She turned off the light and closed her eyes. Hopefully, this would be her worst day in a long time. Besides, not everything had been bad... ‘It had been a while since Oliver had used the salmon ladder’, she thought with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you for reading! And please don’t forget to leave me reviews so I’ll know what you think. Thank you very much!!!  
> I have some ideas for the next chapters, but if there is any famous quote or proverb about you would like to read, just let me know. Suggestions are welcome! ;-)  
> Until the next "chapter”, have a great time!


	3. Happy Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! How are you doing?   
> If you still don't know, I have a weakness for the friendship between Oliver and Felicity (and have recently started writing a multi-chapter Olicity fic, which you can check out if you’d like!), but at the same time, I really wanted to write something about the island. Besides, I wanted to remember the pre-Mirakuru Slade, because I miss him a lot.  
> Despite all of the things they suffered, and that they didn’t end on good terms (yeah, understatement of the year lol), I think that they spent some good times together, and that Oliver still remembers them.  
> I must admit that Slade's character has been quite difficult to write, so I hope I did a good job with him. Tell me what you think, please.  
> I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter!  
> Once again, I have to thank my beta **luvtheheaven** for her awesome work.  
>  And don’t forget, when you’re bored, take some paper and your favorite pen and enjoy writing!

**Title: Happy Story**

**Characters:** Oliver, Felicity and Slade

**Rated:** T

**Spoilers:** 2x01 and 2x02

**“Whoever does evil and is afraid to let it be known has still a seed of good in his wickedness; but who does good and is anxious to be known has still a root of evil in his goodness.” ~ Chinese proverb**

* * *

 

**Chapter 3: Happy Story**

It was a sunny and warm Sunday. A day which ordinary people would use to sleep late, drink coffee on a terrace or just take a walk in the park. But Felicity hadn't ever been an ordinary girl, let alone since she’d joined the Oliver “Arrow” Queen crusade.

So instead of doing any of those things, she ate breakfast hurriedly, dressed and went to the basement of Verdant, where if her intuition didn't fail (which rarely happened), she would find Oliver there, training, shirtless and sweaty. "And hopefully, he'll be working on the salmon ladder... which wouldn’t be a bad way to start off a Sunday," she thought, trying to justify it to herself.

When she entered the code and the door opened, the disappointment showed on her face for a moment. The noise she heard told her that Oliver wasn't training, much less training on the salmon ladder. The sound that came to her ears was different; it was something like a metallic whine. Clearly, Oliver was sharpening his arrows, and that worried her.

Not because he could get hurt or because it might imply that he had been forced to use too many arrows along the week, or anything like that. No. The last few times she saw Oliver sharpening arrows he was really worried about something. Or scared, Felicity would add; but she knew that was a term that Oliver didn't want to be associated with. So she walked down the stairs wondering what could be the reason this time.

“Morning,” she said cheerfully as she approached him.

She couldn't see his face, but she could see the tension in the muscles of his back through his shirt. There was definitely something bothering him. And yet, with just hearing her voice, he seemed to calm down, because as soon as those words left her mouth, Felicity saw how he relaxed.

“Felicity?! What are you doing here?” Oliver asked surprised.

“Are you throwing me out, Mr. Queen?” she asked jokingly, earning a half-smile from Oliver

She had that ability. She always knew what to say, what words use to bring some light to his day. She was the person who managed to get Oliver's genuine smile, and she was proud of it.

“Of course not, but it is Sunday. You could be doing something else.”

She didn't give him any chance to say anything more, knowing he was about to go into a spiral of guilt for dragging her into his dark and dangerous world and having practically forced her to leave her life aside.

“I could, but I don't want to. Just like you, I guess.  Unless I've hit my head and I'm hallucinating, which I don't think I am, because then you wouldn't be sitting there but rather training on the salmon ladder... Wait. I just said that out loud, didn’t I? What I wanted to say is that it is also Sunday for you, so I might as well ask, ‘What are _you_ doing here?’. Which would be a stupid question, because being a Sunday you obviously wouldn’t go to the office, and you spend as little time as you can at home, so...” she sighed as she mentally counted up to three. “I'll shut up and let you keep sharpening your arrows while I check some things.”

Oliver didn't know what to answer, so he didn't say anything. He just looked at her as she sat down in her chair and started typing. Then he turned in his chair and went back to what he was doing.

They spent several minutes in silence, each lost in their own thoughts until, to the surprise of both of them, Oliver broke the silence.

“I told you once that during the five years I was on the island nothing good happened, but... that's not entirely true.”

**_~ Lian Yu ~_ **

It was a dark day on Lian Yu. The sky was leaden, and it seemed that it was going to rain at any moment... But that was not the reason for the great melancholy that gripped the trio as they walked in silence. Slade and Shado were leading with Oliver following them several feet away, his eyes fixed on the ground. Occasionally Shado turned around and checked to see if he was still there. She was worried, and with good reason. Oliver had said absolutely nothing since they’d woken up.

The previous day had been tough for everyone, but after all the things he had already been through, she didn't think it would affect him this much. It hadn’t been the first time that Oliver killed someone, and he’d done it to save her. That's what he’d been telling himself over and over since it happened, but it didn't give him any comfort.

He had never felt such rage, nor that desire to hurt, to kill. And that scared him exceedingly. Survival was one thing, kill before they kill you... but it was quite another to _want_ to kill. He still remembered how bad he had felt the first time he’d needed to kill a bird so that he could eat. And now... He had changed so much since his arrival on the island.

Shado had tried to reassure him, telling him that he’d saved her. But she’d also told him that no island, no place could change who you are, that all people have light and dark inside of them. And he kept thinking about it, and about the things he did before becoming stranded on the island. _I cheated on Laurel with Sara, and that can't be light..._ So he wondered if the darkness was what had always prevailed in him and now it had just grown to another level. _Maybe this island is showing me what I really am, what I always have been… Darkness._

The previous night, all those thoughts had kept him awake for hours, and when he’d finally fallen asleep, he’d had nightmares, which woke him up screaming and wrapped in a cold sweat. He’d stayed awake the rest of the night. In the morning, he’d barely heard what Shado or Slade had told him, but when he saw that they were getting under way and were heading out of the fuselage, he’d just followed them.

They walked in silence for a while. He saw Shado turning back every now and then, looking at him with concern. He wanted to tell her not to worry, that he was okay, that he _will_ be okay. But he couldn't. Oliver felt that something had broken inside of himself, and he doubted if he ever would be able to fix it and go on.

Somewhere along the way everything changed around them. They left behind the plains and wooded areas, and walked through the rocky hillsides, alongside some of the most beautiful and chilling ravines.  Sometimes Oliver enjoyed the landscape. It was one of the few things he liked about the island. But at that moment, he chose to ignore that the beauty, just like he was ignoring the loose and slippery rocks crunching under his shoes.

He saw that Slade was making gestures toward him, but he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't pay attention. He also heard Shado saying something, but he didn't realize what she said until it was too late.

Oliver felt how the stones moved under his feet, and before he could react he was falling downhill. Any attempt to hold onto something to slow down his fall was in vain, so he covered his head with his arms in an attempt to protect it.

When he finally stopped he was aware of the pain. He felt it in every muscle, and was pretty sure he had a couple of broken ribs, by the way his lungs burned when he tried to take a breath. He heard the voices of Slade and Shado shouting his name, but all the sounds came to him distorted, as if he was under water.  His head was spinning, and the edges of his vision were darkening. Although he struggled with all his strength to stay awake, he passed out.

Oliver opened his eyes suddenly and tried to get up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Easy kid. You shouldn't move,” Slade advised him.

He lay back again and grunted in pain. Slade moved away and Oliver took the opportunity to look around. They were in the fuselage, but there was no sign of Shado. Slade helped Oliver to sit up slightly and gave him a glass of water.

“Here. Drink slowly, or it won't do you good.”

Oliver drank in little sips until the feeling of having his mouth full of sand disappeared and he leaned back again.

“Where is Shado?”

“Hunting. She'll be back in a couple of hours.”

Oliver tried to calculate how much time had passed, considering the amount of sunlight  around him, but it was impossible. It seemed like his head was full of cotton.

“How long have I been out?”

“Just over twelve hours.”

It was several minutes without either of them saying anything more until Slade broke the silence.

“How do you feel?”

“Everything hurts.”

“That's what happens when you ignore our warnings, kid.”

There was something mixed in his reprimand. Concern? Fear, perhaps? Oliver didn't know what to say, so he thought it was best to let it go. He tried to get up again, but his friend stopped him once more.

“Can you stay still?! Besides a concussion, you have a sprained ankle and several bruised ribs.”

Oliver huffed in frustration. He knew that although the ankle injury wasn't serious, he should rest for a couple of days to heal it properly and avoid any problem in the future. He had become accustomed to only sitting still when taking a few minutes out of each day to eat, though, so two days of inactivity seemed unthinkable to him.

“Are you hungry?”

Before Oliver could say anything, his stomach answered for him.

“I'll take that as a yes,” Slade said, trying to hide his smile.

“And Shado? She isn't back yet.”

“I'll wait for her before I start eating, but you need to eat something now. Are you going to be able to stay still for a while as I heat up the food?”

Oliver nodded and saw Slade leaving the fuselage with a pot. Despite what he’d just told him, Oliver sat up carefully. He felt numb after so many hours of inactivity. His ribs ached with the movement, and he put one of his hands on his chest as if he could relieve pain with it. That's when he realized he was naked from the waist up. He supposed his shirt had been tattered due to the fall.

Then he checked his injuries. He had some cuts and minor scrapes on his arms, and his ankle was quite swollen, but what surprised him was the dark bruise that covered most of his left side. Perhaps the two days of forced rest would be more welcome than he had first thought.

He rubbed his arms carefully to try to warm up. He looked around and saw one of the blankets they used at night not far from where he was, but to reach it he had to get up. He knew he should wait for Slade, but when his body was shaken by a chill, he decided he didn't want to wait.

He gritted his teeth and, making a great effort, he got up, trying to support his whole weight on his uninjured leg. He knew it would be painful, but he didn't expect so much. That, plus the number of hours that he had been lying down made him dizzy. His vision blurred and his body swayed. When he tried to maintain his balance and used his injured leg, he fell to his knees with a cry of pain.

Just seconds later Slade was at his side helping him to sit down again.

“Can you explain what the hell you were doing?!”

“I only wanted to take the blanket... I'm cold.”

 

“You could’ve waited a little bit, or you could’ve called me. Do you want to worsen your injuries? Because that's what you'll get if you don't rest!” he rebuked him as he grabbed the blanket and put it around Oliver's shoulders.

There was something about Slade that was confusing Oliver. His voice was harsh, but not his gestures nor his face. The Australian took a deep breath before speaking, now with a more calm voice.

“Listen, I know I always say that you have to fend for yourself, but sometimes you simply can't and you must accept help. So if I tell you to wait until I return because you shouldn't move, you must accept it. If you act imprudently again like a proud jerk, I'll be the one who'll aggravate your injuries and you won't like how I'll do it. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah,” Oliver muttered, knowing that Slade was right.

“I'll get your soup. Don't move,” Slade said in a tone that made Oliver cringe. Slade was really angry.

When Slade was about to leave the fuselage he stopped, and without turning, he said:

“Don't you dare ever scare me like this again.”

Oliver smiled when he realized the real motivation behind the Australian’s harsh words.

**_~ Starling City ~_ **

It was the same smile Felicity was seeing at that moment. And although she was glad that Oliver had wanted to share one of his experiences on the island, she didn't understand how that could be a happy story. Her face showed her confusion, and Oliver noticed it.

“You must think I'm crazy,” he said sadly, as if he had forgotten it was Felicity with which he was talking.

“What? No! Of course not. I just... I don't know... I guess I expected another thing.”

“What did you expect?” he asked, curiously this time.

One of the things he liked most about her as a friend was that she always said what she thought, and not what he wanted to hear. Her sincerity was something he valued a lot.

“I don't know... The day you learned to light a fire, the first time you shot an arrow... Something like that. Because, honestly, and no offense, but falling down a hillside and getting hurt is not something I would consider as a happy story.”

“And it isn't. At least, not that part.”

Oliver chuckled lightly seeing Felicity's expression. She pursed her lips and tilted her head, as if she was telling him not to laugh at her.

“When I met Slade for the first time, he wanted to kill me because he thought I was the enemy. Then he took me under his wing, taught me to fight, to heal wounds... He taught me how to survive. But he was a tough teacher. He always tried to get the best out of me, though his methods could be a little questionable. I knew he cared about me, and also about Shado, of course... But I never heard him saying a kind word or a compliment. At least not directly... Until that day.”

**_~ Lian Yu ~_ **

Slade was soon back with the food, and while his friend was eating he trained. Oliver ate slowly, thinking about the past events. He remembered the stumble, the fall, the final blow and the cries of his friends. But the next thing he remembered was waking up in the plane, half a day later. Or at least Slade had told him that many hours had passed. He would have had no idea how much time had passed, and he also had no idea about what had happened during that period of time, and he wanted to know, so he asked.

“What happened? While I was unconscious, I mean.”

It might’ve seemed that his friend didn't hear him, because he didn't even flinch.

“Slade... I know you heard me.”

The Australian grunted in response and dropped from the bar where he was doing his exercises and sat beside Oliver.

“Why are you asking?”

Oliver hesitated, unsure of how to answer. He could tell him that he wanted to know why Slade was behaving so strangely with him; but he doubted he would get any response if that was what he answered. So instead of saying anything, he simply shrugged.

“What is the last thing you remember?” Slade asked.

“Your cries. I heard you calling me, asking me to stay awake, but I passed out quickly.”

“I know. When we arrived at where you were, you were already unconscious. We tried to wake you up, but it was in vain. We couldn't leave you there, so as soon as Shado had made sure that it was safe to move you, we brought you here. She had been glued to your side, not wanting to separate from you for even a minute. I had to force her to go to hunt, so that she could clear her mind for a bit. She was very scared.”

“About some bruised ribs?”

“Because you hadn't woken up!” he growled.

Oliver looked at him confused, still not understanding his angry outburst.

“Scrapes, broken bones... They can take more or less time to heal, but they aren't a big problem. But a concussion is very dangerous, especially when you lose consciousness for so long. It could have been forever! And that is something none of us can afford, kid.”

“But it isn't only that, right?” Oliver pushed him. Slade was more open than usual, and he wanted to take advantage of it.

“One of the first lessons I’d learned was that affective bonds are dangerous. War takes a lot of lives, and every time someone you care about dies, a part of you dies with him. You lose objectivity, you forget what you're fighting for and you worry more for your people than for the mission. Worrying for others makes you care less about yourself. And someday that will bring your death. It's that simple.”

“Really? Nobody made you reconsider it?  I can’t believe the fact that you accepted that so easily.”

“Who would make me reconsider it? All ASIS soldiers learnt the same lesson. None of us questioned anything. We only followed orders. I never doubted that lesson until I got here and I found a stupid but good-hearted kid full of ideals of honor, camaraderie and I don't know how many other things.”

**_~ Starling City ~_ **

“After killing the man who attacked Shado, I felt so... I was afraid about what the island was revealing about me. But Slade's words gave me hope... He made me see that there was still some good in me. And every time I doubted myself or I felt I was becoming a monster, I remembered what he’d said that day.”

Felicity looked at him with pride. There were many things she admired about him; and this was one of those things. Oliver didn't talk much about the island, although his scars, his nightmares, and his eyes spoke for him. It had been five years of hell. And yet, he was able to find good things among all the suffering. How could she not admire him? Besides, the fact that he wanted to share one of those "happy stories" with her was quite a feat. It was another example of how strong their relationship had become.

Felicity knew he chose that particular memory for a reason, and she knew what it was. Although Oliver always looked strong and confident, it was nothing more than a shell. Deep down, he was just a man with fears and insecurities, who often wondered if he had become a monster. Felicity knew that he hadn't. He had made mistakes, okay, and perhaps his way of doing things wasn't always the best; but he really was a good man who still had a kind heart despite everything that he had been through since the Gambit sank. Felicity would make him see that he was a good man. She wouldn't let him doubt that. He had to know. He deserved it.

“You should never forget what Slade told you, Oliver. You are a good man. Really.”

Oliver smiled genuinely. He was grateful to have Felicity in his life. She was his light and his strength. She was the voice of reason and the one who wasn't afraid to confront him when he made wrong choices. She knew his strengths and weaknesses. She was the one who pushed him toward the light without rejecting his darkness. But above all, she was the person who showed him that he could be the man he wanted to be.

On Lian Yu, it was Slade who gave him hope in his darkest moments. But back in Starling City, it was Felicity who did it, with the difference that she gave him hope not only in his darkest moments but every single day since he’d met her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you for reading! And please don’t forget to leave me reviews so I’ll know what you think. Thank you very much!!!  
> I have some ideas for the next chapters, but if there is any famous quote or proverb about you would like to read, just let me know. Suggestions are always welcome! ;-)  
> Until the next "chapter”, have a great time!


End file.
